Blank-feeding mechanism.



L C. PALMER.

BLANK FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 1]. 1916.

1,259,559. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

4 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES lf/VENTOR A TTORNEYS L. C. PALMER.

BLANK FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR.1I, 191a.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

L. C. PALMER.

BLANK FEEDING MECHANISNL.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11. I916.

1,259,550. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

4 SHEETSSHEET 3.

, WITNESSES L. C. PALMER.

BLANK FEEDING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED APR. H. 1916.

Lfiw fifl. Patented Mar. 19, 1%.

4 SHEETSSHEET 4.

WITNESSES IIVVENTOR LYNDON C. PALMER, OF BUFFALO, N EW' YORK, AS-SIGNOR TO F. N. BURT COMPANY, LIMITED, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF ONTARIO, CANADA.

BLANK-FEEDING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

Original application filed December 9, 1911, Serial No. 664,774. Divided and this application filed April 11, 1916. Serial No. 90,411.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LYNDON O. PALMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Buffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Blank Feeding Mechanism, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to mechanism for feeding blanks, and with respect to its more specific features, to mechanism of the char acter referred to adapted to feed blanks from a pile.

One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a comparatively simple mechanism wherewith blanks held in a pile may be rapidly and efficiently successively delivered from the pile to an article.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a simple and practical blank-feeding mechanism of the character referred to.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter set forth, and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and wherein similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of the machine shown in Fig. l; and

Figs. 3, l, 5, 6, 7 and 8 are detail views of portions of the machine.

This application a division of a prior application, Serial No. 664,774, filed December 9, 1911, to which reference may be made for a disclosure of the complete machine. For the purposes of the present application it will be sufficient to only briefly describe the general construction and operation of the machine, the specific description being confined more especially to that part of the invention'to which this application is particularly directed.

The numeral 1 indicates a stand above and other devices between the intervals of its rotation, and intermittent motion is communicated to the carrier 3 through the instrumen'tality of a vertical shaft 5 driven from a horizontally disposed continuously rotatable cam shaft 6, to which motion is communicated from a main driving shaft 7 through the instrumentality of gears 8 and 9. The numeral 10 indicates a countershaft driven from the shaft 7 by the bevel gears 11 and 12 and having at one end sprocket wheels driving sprocket chains 13 and 14,

one of these chains, as 13, being arranged to operate certain glue-supplying rollers, and the other, as 1%, being arranged to opcrate certain conveyer mechanism. The conveyer mechanism is indicated by the numeral 15 and comprises an endless belt moving in a trough, which belt conveys boxes placed thereon into position to be subsequently moved onto the box rests 4 by means of a reciprocatory picker 16, motion being communicated to the belt 15 by the sprocket chain 14. Above the rotary disk 3 and supported by the bed plate 2 is a stationary platform 17 adapted to serve as a support for certain parts of the machine. In order to provide for the accurate positioning of the boxes, with their upstanding flanges, on the rests, the latter are provided with peripheral projections in the shape of flanges 18, 19 and 20, and as by the present embodiment provision is made for labeling substantially rectangular boxes, three sides of the rests are provided with said flanges angularly arranged relatively to each other, the fourth side being left free to provide an intervening opening, so that a box may be slid or transferred'from the conveyer belt onto the box rest, on which latter it will be guided and positioned by the flanges of the rest, In order that the boxes shall be pre i side of the carrier plate to support a glue vented from substantial displacement in a plane perpendicular to that of the rests, the opposite flanges lSand 19 are provided with overhanging portions 21 which span the thickness of, the box flanges. Thev inner flange 20 serves as a stop to limit the radial position of the box relative'to the rest and the carrier on which it is supported, and this stop terminates below the top of the box flange and is unprovided with an overhanging flange. The flanges of the rests are accordingly spaced from each other, periphreservoir comprising a tank 22 having up- March 5, 1912.

standing plates 23 supporting gluesupply and deliveryrollers of the general character disclosed in applicanfls Patent No. 1,019,351, 7 I Brackets 24, secured to the bed plate, support at one end guide rods 25 extending across the path of the box rests, the otherends of these rods beingsup ported by brackets 26 secured to the central stationary platform 17 A glue-applying roller 27 is guided by said rods and carriesgl ue fromthe delivery roller 27 toa glue pad 28 supported in line withv a stationary position assumed by the box rest therebeneath. The manner of supporting the guide rods and the guiding devices, whereby the glue-applying roller is moved from the glue supply to the pad, is generally similar to-that described in the aforesaid patent. The glue pad is supported upon a cross head 29 to reciprocate vertically toward and from the plane of the carrier in order to coat the inside bottom face of a box sup ported on a rest t beneath the glue pad. Depending from the cross head 29 are guiding and supporting rods 30 guided in elongated bearings 31 and 32 in the bed plate 2 and stand 1, respectively, and reciprocatory vertical movement at proper times is communicated to the cross head 29 by a cam 33, all as generally set forth in the patent referred to.

Glue having been applied to the inside of thebox, the glued box is then moved to position where blanks, such as labels, are to be applied thereto. -Here it arrives beneath the label magazine 34: provided with spring fingers 35 to hold a pile of labels, as d6.

scribed. in the. prior patent hereinbefore referred to, such labels being hereinafter referred to as blanks?- In'the present eme i eney ,lwwer e' th s r fin 35 extend below the rigid walls of the blank magazine 34 in order to enter the box without interference from said walls. In feeding the blanks, relative approaching and receding movements between the blank magazine and the article, as the box, to which the blank is to be delivered, are effected. in the present case the blank magazine is preferably supported and moved into blankapplying position by means of the cross head 29 to which it is adjustably fixed, although it will be apparent that any other efficient means of bringing the box and the blank holder into blank-applying position may be provided. In the present embodiment, as the cross head 29 reciprocates the blank magazine moves back and forth relative to the box on a rest, and in its lowered position the blank-carrying fingers 35 enter the box and position the bottom blank as -closely adjacent the glued surface of the box as theengaging fingers of the magazine will permit. Ordinarily, the pile of blanks will bulge outwardly at the bottom sothat when the magazine descendsthe bottom blank will be brought into contact with the glued surface of the box. However, in order to insure that the bottom blank in thermagazine' shall contact the blanks in the magazine in a direction transverse to the plane of the blanks so as to strike the pile of blanks on the upper side when the magazine is'i'n blank-applying position and thus deliver the bottom blank from the magazine onto the box and press the same thereagainst. Preferably this hammer comprises a head 36 having an upstanding stem or rod 37 guided in a bracket 38 supported from the frame of the machine, said rod being toothed, providing a rack 39 adapted to be engaged at the proper time by a retaining member, as a sliding dog, and held temporarily and positively in strikin position or position to deliver the blow. Means are provided for raising the hammer to striking position above the pile of labels in the magazine, comprising a block 40 slidabl'e onthe rod 37, and a pivoted cam piece 41 cooperating with said block in certain positions to grip the red. A connecting 0r operating rodl2 operated from-asuitable part of the machine, as will hereinafter appear, is pivotally connected at 4:3 to an arm 4st fixed to the cam portion of the grip, and the parts are so disposed that when the con necting rode2 israisedthe rod 37 of the hammer member is gripped and raised therewith. The rod 87 having been raised to the extent of movement of the connecting rod, the dog engages the rack 39 on the rod and holds the hammer in elevated position when the grip is released upon the descent of the connecting rod 42. In order that the hammer may descend under other influence than gravity, a spring 45 is connected thereto at one end and to the bracket 38 at the other, in order to drive the hammer against the blanks in the magazine. The sliding dog 46 is held on the bracket by means of a plate 47, and a spring 48 surrounding a stem 49 on the dog tends to force the latter toward the rack. Laterally disposed with respect to the dog is an anti-fricti0n roller 50, in turn adapted to be engaged by a slidable cam 51 which, as it is moved one way or the other, either contacts the roller 50 to withdraw the dog from the rack, or permits said dog to engagethe teeth of the rack. As the magazine descends and reaches blankapplying position, a trip arm 52 thereon contacts with the slidable cam, causing the latter to move in a direction to withdraw the dog from the rack, permitting the hammer to descend under the influence of its spring. provided between the trip and the slidable cam, as by means of'a spring buffer 53 on the cam. As the magazine approximates the limit of its upward movement the trip arm engages an adjustable stop 54 upon the slidable cam and raises said cam, thus releasing the dog, which at the proper time springs into position to engage the rack. It will be observed, however, that the cam grip controlling the rise of the hammer is so arranged relative to the operation of the blank-applying device that said hammer will have been raised to striking position before the trip will operate to release the dog. It will be further observed that, by reason of the free sliding engagement between the hammer and its elevating device, the hamincr readily follows the descent of the blanks in the magazine and is at all times raised to a proper striking distance from the topmostblank. As the pile of blanks in the magazine decreases in. height, the hammer descends lower and lower into the magazine. and said hammer is provided with a sounder 55 adapted to contact with a bell 56 when the pile of labels has been mate rially decreased. Preferably the rod of the hammer is of non-circular cross section, so as to be accurately guided in its reciprooatory movements. The block'40 has quite a free sliding movement on the rod 37, and in order to keep the block in contact with the rod 37 at one side'a light spring 57 is secured at one end to the block at the side of the bracket and at the other end to said bracket, this arrangement tending to prevent lost motion and causing the cam 41 to Preferably a cushioned contact is immediately pick up the hammer at the beginning of its upward movement.

It may here be noted that when the label is applied to the glued surface inside the box, any tendency of the 'boxto follow the retreat of the label holder is prevented by the overhanging portions 21 of the flanges 18 and 19. The hammer mechanism, however, is well adapted to serve its purpose when labels are applied to the outside surface of a box, and when the flanges of the rests are omitted. Under such conditions any tendency of the box to follow the retreat of the label magazine, due to the sticking of the labels together, or any other cause, is prevented by longitudinally movable yielding, non-rotatable rods 58 carry ing transversely adjustable box-engaging fingers or pins 59, stops, in the shape of adjustable nuts 60 and interposed springs 61 tending to urge the fingers from the magazine. WVhen the magazine descends to apply a blank outside the box, the fingers 59 contact at diagonally opposite points with thesurface of the box before the application of the blank and tend to press the box away from the blank holder. In the present instance, the rods 58 are square in section and carried in diagonally opposite portions of the walls of the blank magazine, and the fingers 59 project from said rods in position to engage the corners of the box outside of or beneath the blank to be applied.

6:2 indicates a bearing bracket fixed to the frame of the machine and supporting a rock lever 63 pivotally connected at one end to the connecting rod 42 of the cam grip which operates the hammer, the other end of said lever having an anti-friction roller 64 cooperating with acam 65 on the shaft 6, the cam 65 being suitably shaped to cause the movement of the grip at the proper times in the operation of the machine.

In applying glue to the glue pad 28, the glue-applying roller 27 is reciprocated and rolls back and forth over the face of the pad 28, the reciprocatory movement of the roller 27 being effected through the instrumentality of a cam 66 on the shaft 6, giving move ment to a rock lever 67 carrying a roller 68 engaging the cam 66, the lever 67 being in turn connected to one end of a lever 69 by a connecting rod 70, the other end of the lever 69 being joined by a connecting rod 71 to a reciprocatory frame 72 in which the glue-applying roller 27 is carried.

The operation of the machine will be ap parent from the preceding description, bu may be briefly outlined as follows:

The operator places onthe belt 15 the articles to which blan (S are to be fed. In the present embodiment'these articles are open paper boxes, and the blanks in the magazine are to be delivered to the interior of these inside bottom face of the boxes. The boxes are placed on the belt open side up, and as they arrive in position opposite the path of the picker 16-, this latter transfers them to the rests 4, which latter in turn carry the. boxes into position beneath the glue pad 28. There glue is applied tothe inside bottom faces of the boxes, whereupon the boxes are carried into position beneath the blank magazine 34. The cross head 29 then descends and the fingers 35 enter the box so as to dispose a pile of blanks with the bottom blank closely adjacent or even touching the inside bottom facesot' the boxes. The hammer member will have been raisedinto po-- sition to deliver a blow on the top of the pile of blanks in the magazine, and when the pile ofblanks shall have been positioned in the box, as just described, the dog 46 will be withdrawn from engagement with the teeth of the rack 39, and the hammer will descend and strikethe top ot'the pile of blanks, and thus deliver the bottom blank from the magazine onto the inner glued face of the box. The tripping of the dog 46 is practically simultaneous with the position;

ing of the. magazine in the box. Then the hammer is lifted to a position to deliver the next blow, this lifting being accomplishedbytherod 42 rising and causing the hammer rod 37 to be gripped between the block 40 and the cam piece 41. As the depth of the pile of labels in the magazine decreases, due tothe successive removal of labels from the pile, the hammer member descends farther and farther into the magazine, but it will be observed that, re ardless of the depth of the pile, the rod 3 will be effectively gripped and raised to striking position, the gripper taking effect at different points along the length of the rod 37. As the depth of the pile varies, the dog 46 co.- operates with one or the other of the teeth which may assume position opposite the dog. The descent of the magazine causes the trip arm 52 to contact the spring 53 and throw the slidable cam 51 into position to withdraw the dog 46 from the rack 39. The rise of the magazine causes the same trip arm to elevate the cam and dispose it so that the dog 46 is thrust into engagement with the rack 39 by the spring 48. Thus the means which operates the hammer retaining means or dog 46 is carried by the magazine and moves synchronously with the magazine.

'When the magazine descends, thelingers 59 will engage the edges of the box, the springs 61 being slightlv compressed during this engagement. When the magazine rises, the fingers 59 prevent the box rising with the magazine, which, latter might otherwise occur should the blank delivered to the box adhere to those in the magazine. Thus these fingers, 59- space the box,- or other armsaaso,

tiele from'the pile of blanks in thefmagazine after the delivery of the blank to the box. 7

Thus by the abovedescribed construction are accomplished, among others, all of the objects hereinbefore referred to.,

-As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this inven tion could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all mat; ter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be. understood that thelanguage used'in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention, which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Havingdescribed my invention, what I,v

claim as new and ters Patent is: a

1. In an. apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to hold a pile of blanks, a member adapted to deliver a blow to thepile, means adapted desire'to secure by Let to grip and move said member into position to deliver said blow, and means adapted to temporarily positively retain said member in position to deliver blow,

2. In an apparatus of the character described, in, combination, a magazine adapted to hold a pile of'blanks, a. member adapted to deliver a blow to the pile, and means adapted to grip and move said member into position to deliver said blow, said member comprising a rod adapted to cooperate with said gripper at different points determined depth of the pile varies;

4. In an apparatus of the character described, combination, a movable magazine adapted to hold a pile of blanks, a member adapted to deliver ablow to the pile, means adapted to grip and move said member into position to deliver-said blow, means adapted to temporarily positively retain said memberin position to; deliver said b w, and m an mov b e yn hr n sly with said magazine adapted to: operate said retaining means. V v

n an separates i h charact r desaid retaining means.

to deliver said blow, means adapted to tem-- porarily positively retain said member in position to deliver said blow, and means earned by sald magazine adapted to operate 6. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted tohold a pile of blanks' for successive delivery therefrom, means adapted to cause relative approaching and receding movements between said magazine and an article to which the blank is to be delivered, and means carried by said magazine adapted to space said article from the pile of blanks after the delivery of a blank to such article.

7. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to hold a pile of blanks, a spring operated member adapted to deliver a blow to'the pile, means adapted to grip and move said member into position to deliver said blow, and means adapted to temporarily positively retain said member in position to deliver said blow.

8. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit them tobe delivered therefrom, a hammer, means adapted to cause the hammer to strike the pile to deliver the blanks, means to move the hammer to striking position, and means to retain the hammer in striking position.

9. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit them to be delivered therefrom, a hammer, means adapted to cause the hammer to strike the pile to deliver the blanks, means to move the hammer to striking position, means to retain the hammer in striking position, and means to release the retaining means.

10. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, and means to grip and move the hammer to striking position comprising a pivoted gripping cam.

11. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to grip and move the hammer to striking position, a block slidable on the hammer, and a pivoted cam cooperating With the block to grip the hammer.

12. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to grip and move the hammer to striking position, a block slidable on the hammer, a. pivoted cam cooperating with the block togrip the hammer, and a connecting rod pivotally connected to the cam.

13'. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to move the hammer to striking position, and means to retain the hammer in striking position comprising a dog adapted to engage the hammer.

14. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to move the hammer to striking position, and means to retain the hammer in strikingposition comprising a rack connected to the hammer and a dog adapted to engage the rack.

15. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to'move the hammer to striking position, means to retain the hammer in striking position com- "prising adog adapted to engage the hammer, and means for disengaging the dog to permit the hammer to strike.

16. In. an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to move the hammer to striking position, means to retain the hammer in striking position comprising a dog adapted to engage the hammer, and cam means adapted to disengage the dog to permit the hammer to strike.

17. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, means to move the magazine into delivery position, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to retain the hammer in striking position, and means whereby the movement of the magazine to delivery position releases the hammer.

18. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, means to move the magazine into delivery position, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, a dog to retain the hammer in striking position, and means to release said dog comprising a trip device carried by the magazine.

19. In an apparatus of the character demove the magazine into delivery position,.

a hammer adapted to strike the pile, a sprin -operated dog to retain the hammer in striking position, a sliding cam adapted to release the dog,and a trip device carried by the magazine adapted to move the sliding cam.

20. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted .to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, means to move the magazme 1nto dehvery position, a hammer adapted to strike the pile, means to retain the hammer in striking position comprising a dog and a slidable cam to actuate the dog, a spring carried by the slidable cam, and a trip carried by the magazine adapted to contact the spring and move the dog to release the hammer.

21. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a magazine adapted to support a pile of blanks and permit the same to be delivered therefrom, means to move the magazine into delivery position, a hammer comprising rack teeth adapted to strike the pile, a cam grip movably mounted on the hammer, means to cause the cam grip to grip the hammer, move the same to striking position and release the same, a relatively stationarily positioned slidable dog adapted to engage the teeth, means to cause said engagement before the hammer is released by the grip, and means whereby the movement of the magazine to delivery'position releases the hammer.

22. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a blank magazine, rods movably mounted thereon, springs adapted to resist relative movement of said rods in onedirection, and an article-engaging member carried by said rods.

23. In'an apparatus of the character de scribed, in combination, a blank magazine, rods movably mounted thereon, springs adapted to resist relative movement of said rods in one direction, a stop to resist relamember into position to deliver said blow and thereby tension said spring, and'means adapted to temporarily positively retain said member in position to deliver said blow. 7

In testimony whereof I afiX-my signature, 1n the presence of two witnesses.

LYNDON C. PAL-ISIER. Witnesses: V V

, HAROLD C. CorPINs,

JAs. P. HOLMES.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. a 

